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Stump Day
Usually in shows, there’s nothing wrong with Christmas
episodes. However, they can throw off
the pace when the featured series is deep into its plot. That’s why it’s a bit of an issue to get a
Christmas episode now, but it’s still best to be open-minded going in. To me though, it’s not exactly the best
Christmas work out there.
In actuality,
the holiday is called Stump Day which has similar amenities to those of
Christmas from decorations and snowy weather.
Even so, Stump Day feels more like its own holiday than Mewni’s version
of Christmas. This is especially true
for its background of early Mewman settlers who couldn’t stand each other but
bonded as they gathered around a stump during a blizzard. That’s pretty far off from Christmas’
origins, but maybe that’s the point.
Rather than set a Mewni holiday up to just be Christmas with a different name, it makes more
sense to have some things set it apart from its real world counterpart.
While many think the story of honoring the
stump is just a simple little kid’s story, no one holds it in higher regard
than Star. This is all fine at first, but later events make it an issue. At night, Star is called down to the grand
hall. There, she’s shocked to find that
Marco and her closest friends have thrown her a birthday party. Star does not approve of all her friends’
thoughtful festivities because she believes that celebrating her birthday on
Stump Day will dishonor and anger the stump.
This direction is very mixed. I
see this as an interesting commentary for the challenges of celebrating
holidays when someone’s birthday lands on one.
That said, there are several issues to the execution. First, the series premiere had Star get her
wand on her birthday, and there were no signs on Mewni or Earth that it was
around Stump Day or Christmas. Maybe
Star’s birthday is usually celebrated long after Stump Day, but why the long
wait? Surely there’s nothing wrong with
celebrating when Stump Day’s over.
Also, Star’s paranoia over the stump feels obsessive. It feels like she’s forcing her beliefs on
others which is never OK. I also find it
unpleasing that for the conflict to work, many of the party guests get into
petty fights. Some derail their character
development like Tom getting mad when told he’s been inconsiderate of Star, or
Tad still not moving out of Kelly’s head.
Others are just their usual unlikable selves like when Pony Head starts complaining. Star chalks this arguing up to angering the
stump which is tearing them apart. Is
that supposed to imply that honoring the stump means being happy all the time? That can’t be healthy.
Eventually, the stump does get mad and attacks
everyone. It’s hard to tell if it’s
because of the party and arguing since the attack happens after Janna puts the
stump in the fire. There’s no definitive
proof that Star’s paranoia over the stump was justified. For all the issues, the payoff where everyone
apologizes and declares their love for each other is very nice. It’s still problematic that the stump only
stops attacking because Stump Day ends at that moment. Thankfully, the good moments were genuine
with everyone feeling closer and Star showing appreciation for her own
party. That’s the best defining moment
of the Christmas/Stump Day spirit of the entire episode.
Unlike most Christmas episodes I’ve covered,
this is held back by unpleasant moments, possibilities of continuity errors,
and disrupting the pace of the big plot going on. Still, it can be nice and wholesome to a
degree if you’re in the right mood, even if there’s better holiday material out
there.
B-
Holiday
Spellcial
I am not a fan of the first appearance of the
personifications of the spells in Star’s wand.
It’s an imaginative concept for sure, but it does not bring any
interesting story ideas or characterizations and feels like a big waste of
time. This episode is another starring
role for these guys highlighting what they do during Stump Day, and it
continues to beg the question why this topic is even explored.
All the problems from the first time they do
this are on full display. The biggest
one is that this is the type of thing that should be explored in a short scene
or joke, not an entire episode. The
things the spells get up to are not interesting or relevant to anything
important to the story. The only thing
setting it apart from last time is that one of Eclipsa’s spells, the Seeing
Eye, is among them. Even then,
this doesn’t explain why there has to be a whole episode about these spells
personified. They’re not even used for
anything important like a battle. It’s
just the Spider with a Top Hat working hard to set up a Stump Day party for
everyone which on the whole plays out like a typical office Christmas
party.
Basically, we’re viewing these
spells when they’re at their least enjoyable.
I put a huge emphasis on least enjoyable because none of them seem very
likable. Remember how they constantly
hammered in Spider being better at comedy than fighting but were still
considerate of his feelings? Well, all
that changes when they completely ostracize the Seeing Eye from being anywhere
near them. It doesn’t even make sense
that they would be this mean. The Seeing
Eye spell has been used quite a few times to successful effect, and ever since
Star unlocked it, it stayed in possession.
You’d think the other spells would be used to it being around. Maybe it makes sense that they’d be weirded
out by the Seeing Eye constantly staring at them, but making it a total social
outcast because of that is going too far.
They eventually understand that Spider sees friendly merit in Seeing Eye
and let him come to the party. When
Seeing Eye does come, even he proves unsympathetic. While mingling among the spells, he shows
them all doing embarrassing things which gets everyone mad and antagonistic
against each other which once more is not pleasant at all. It has a reason through playing a memory of
Marco saying it’s always best to tell the truth. Even with that, shouldn’t
there have been some guidelines set that it’s not the time to reveal these
things? Spider continues to vouch for
the Seeing Eye and make peace between spells once more. It seems like he’s about to do that by
reminding everyone that the Eye is just trying to fit in. Then the Seeing Eye ruins things for Spider
too by playing a moment of Spider berating everyone. While the spells deserve this for their
behavior, it is not cool that the Seeing Eye would just make more trouble for the one spell who stood up for him.
Finally, it plays a montage of all the nice
moments between the spells which finally gets them all to forgive each other
and have a good party. It’s a nice
ending for sure, but why did play that bad moment of Spider in the first
place? If the Seeing Eye could show that
nice montage, nothing was stopping him from doing it earlier. Is he that sadistic that he had to add one
sadistic moment before finally making things peaceful again? It just goes to show that these episodes
inside the wand were really not a good idea.
They have their nice moments, but story and character issues and lack of
substance show some creative concepts are best left unexplored.
D
The Ranking
- Moon the Undaunted
- Deep Dive
- Stranger Danger
- Sweet Dreams
- Return to Mewni
- Rest in Pudding
- Night Life
- Demoncism
- Toffee
- Monster Bash
- Club Snubbed
- Puddle Defender
- Sophomore Slump
- Starfari
- Lint Catcher
- Princess Turdina
- Scent of a Hoodie
- King Ludo
- Marco and the King
- Death Peck
- Book Be Gone
- Stump Day
- Trial by Squire
- Lava Lake Beach
- Holiday Spellcial
- Ponymonium
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the plot gets back on track. While Star is roped into a bogbeast hunt, Moon and Eclipsa make for an enjoyable team-up as they look for the truth about Eclipsa's daughter.
If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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